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Game is too superficial, too boring, too onesided, too imbalanced

I agree with OP completely apart from his critique of the instant upgrades for military units. I think this actually improves the game. CiV was the same, only that it came down to economic power. Loosening the connection between military and economy a bit is a good thing in my opinion, as the economic superpower tends to be the military superpower anyway. This is countered a bit in BE. Together with the lack of barracks etc. the game allows for a much more intuitiv management of one's army.

Don't waste your breath. If you moved around this forum for a bit, you would've realized that all the players that have at least a little bit of experience with the game agree that even APOLLO is way too easy.

Don't waste your breath. If you moved around this forum for a bit, you would've realized that all the players that have at least a little bit of experience with the game agree that even APOLLO is way too easy.

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Apollo was way too easy - I beat it on my first try.

That changed after the patch. Now we get threads with titles like "Is Apollo too hard"?

The game is simply not fun for people that played Civ5 and AC for hundreds of hours. It doesn't offer interesting choices.

Currently it's a game about filling the buckets so that you get a greater bucket to fill.
The only interesting innovation is the tech web, but even that sucks because the stuff you get to actually unlock is borring.

I have fun with the game, trying out different ways to do the tech web... and with the big nerf hammer to affinity 4 units, I just skip them now... don't even research any leaf techs for affinity points, until I have researched both biowells, and academies...Then it is only a few turns to burn through the leaf techs, get to affinity level 7 of your choice, and use the generic military units to crush your enemy.

The largest problem with the game as it currently is, there is no middle game... it is explore and expand, then on to your winning route, for the win... there is no tension between the different routes to winning.

And with the numerous choke points of canyons and mountains, the AI is lost.

I have fun with the game, trying out different ways to do the tech web... and with the big nerf hammer to affinity 4 units, I just skip them now... don't even research any leaf techs for affinity points, until I have researched both biowells, and academies...Then it is only a few turns to burn through the leaf techs, get to affinity level 7 of your choice, and use the generic military units to crush your enemy.

The largest problem with the game as it currently is, there is no middle game... it is explore and expand, then on to your winning route, for the win... there is no tension between the different routes to winning.

And with the numerous choke points of canyons and mountains, the AI is lost.

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I guess you are primarily focusing on the domination victory part? That one has always been at the mercy of the AI's capabilities of unit positioning, which sucked in Civ:V as it does now.

The middle game part is really huge thing to consider. In Civ:V. the stuff concerning religion and tourism, Great People with their unique abilities and the influence of everything on your empire's happiness gave you lot's of options for decision making from mid to late game. Now the only thing that offers you choices is the techweb. Which requires beacons per turn. Which turns everything into a science victory.

I guess you are primarily focusing on the domination victory part? That one has always been at the mercy of the AI's capabilities of unit positioning, which sucked in Civ:V as it does now.

The middle game part is really huge thing to consider. In Civ:V. the stuff concerning religion and tourism, Great People with their unique abilities and the influence of everything on your empire's happiness gave you lot's of options for decision making from mid to late game. Now the only thing that offers you choices is the techweb. Which requires beacons per turn. Which turns everything into a science victory.

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No, I hate domination wins... I have one, just to say I did it... now I do use the military to gain cities, next to me to expand my empire.

There is NO middle part to BE...There is only the explore expand to around turn 100-120... then pick your winning option, and research the techs to gain the affinity points to level 13, build the wonder, and wait to win...

No, I hate domination wins... I have one, just to say I did it... now I do use the military to gain cities, next to me to expand my empire.

There is NO middle part to BE...There is only the explore expand to around turn 100-120... then pick your winning option, and research the techs to gain the affinity points to level 13, build the wonder, and wait to win...

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The middle of the game, turn 125-200ish, is where war happens for me. The good land should be claimed by then, so naturally there should be some border conflict.

Sure I could pay all the civs to war it out amongst themselves, but that doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun. I want to get in on the bloodshed as well.

One thing I'd really like to see is more development with the Aliens.
In intense games, they're practically extinct by mid-game or so and offer nothing late game.
The entire premise of BE is that this is a completely new planet with different flora and fauna, but the Aliens suck and don't do much, and the only real indicator you're on a different planet are the quests.

The middle of the game, turn 125-200ish, is where war happens for me. The good land should be claimed by then, so naturally there should be some border conflict.

Sure I could pay all the civs to war it out amongst themselves, but that doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun. I want to get in on the bloodshed as well.

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perspective, for me around turn 125, it is research affinity techs to reach level 13 to build the wonder to win... yes that is when I am also at war with my neighbor, but the war is not the important factor, just something to do while I am researching to the win.

I really disagree about oil, when playing supremacy you really need this food and production that come from satellites. Actually my main criteria for settling new cities becoming access to oil, firaxite and titanium.

perspective, for me around turn 125, it is research affinity techs to reach level 13 to build the wonder to win... yes that is when I am also at war with my neighbor, but the war is not the important factor, just something to do while I am researching to the win.

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I guess I just find the tactical warfare more fun and interesting than you do. I don't rush only affinity techs. I go up a level, try to take advantage of the unit upgrade while I tech some of the cheaper non-major affinity techs, and when I feel i no longer have an advantage I push out another affinity tech.

What's your alternative? Should the civ with the highest energy be given bonuses on top of its capacity to rush build or finance diplomatic agreements? Should the cultural leader have extra units for having more bonuses? No. That's stupid.
In addition, the "1 affinity instant upgrade" makes some sense, as players are given a choice of specialising within the tech web and getting more affinity points, but potentially missing out on useful techs and units, or spreading out but losing out on higher-level affinity upgrades.

Very simply, the player most capable of getting new stuff should be able to get the most new stuff.

We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.

I only really got into CiV with G&K and really started enjoying it from BNW (the Culture rework was solid). I've got a good 125 hours or so in it, which for me is a lot to spend on a game (I don't have a lot of gaming time).

I've already got 115 hours in Civ:BE, though I'll admit a good 10 - 20 hours of that was modding. The game has a lot more to it than CiV did at release, I don't get why people don't see that.

I guess too many people just expected SMAC 2. Even when they were told not to expect such a game.